Neighborhood Patrol

The MANA Neighborhood Watch began years ago, following the typical template of neighbors reporting concerns to a “block captain” who then communicated with other block captains and police liaisons to disseminate information. With the advent of social media and tools like Crimemapping.com, neighbors began to post reports and questions directly to the larger community via Nextdoor and Facebook. This made block captains a bit redundant and the old grid system no longer made much sense.

Medlock Patrol
As has been the case for many intown neighborhoods, our Neighborhood Watch eventually evolved into a paid neighborhood patrol (Medlock Paid Police Patrol LLC), a separate, volunteer-run not-for-profit group. Dues-paying households make it possible to hire off-duty DeKalb County officers to patrol our neighborhood at undisclosed times. Subscribers also can request vacation checks and security audits. If a 911 call occurs when the patrol is active, that officer will respond to the call because our patrol officer is in radio contact with the 911 call center. To learn about the full benefits of membership, please visit https://medlockpatrol.org. Residents are encouraged to join because more paying members means more patrol coverage hours.

Ye Olde Neighborhood Watch grid.  
Click here for full-size image.

You will still see neighborhood watch signs around the neighborhood because by whatever name, Medlock neighbors look out for each other. It’s a thing we do.

If you see anything of concern, call 911. 
That is always the recommendation from police officers and police liaisons who attend our community meetings. The 911 operator always asks if the call is an emergency and prioritizes such calls. Thus, folks should not worry they are “clogging up the lines” by calling 911 with more routine reports.